


Underneath the Morning Light

by gilligankane



Category: Guiding Light
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-24
Updated: 2009-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-17 09:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/550226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilligankane/pseuds/gilligankane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were home, Olivia and Emma, finally. There were absolutely right where they belonged and everything was going to be perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Underneath the Morning Light

The dishes were in the sink – Olivia had talked her into leaving them for the morning and the idea sounded too good to pass up, mostly because they still needed to unpack  _their_  room and the sudden bulge of her midsection was starting to weight her down –, her blue-flowered shirt was in the hamper – already presoaked so that the ketchup stain left by Rafe’s clumsy hands, would wash clean in the next load of laundry. Natalia didn’t blame her son for the accident – he’d been high off a softball game win, and the joy that both his grandfather and his uncle had survived their individual surgeries. Echoing down the hallway, Emma’s squeals of excitement filled the house with just the right amount of noise to make it  _home_.

They were home, Olivia and Emma,  _finally_. They were absolutely right where they belonged and everything was going to be perfect. They deserved perfect, after all they’d been through. After Olivia’s sudden fit of self-sacrifice and Natalia’s flight-or-fight instinct kicking in the wrong way; after Rafe’s childish behavior and Frank’s disapproving glances; after walking in circles and always just missing each other, they deserved perfection. For Natalia Rivera, nothing was more perfect than family.

Natalia’s smile slipped from her face the moment she stepped across the threshold of her room. Her shoulders dropped their habitually straight posture and she felt her body deflate. One hand flew to the waistline of her emerald colored dress and clutched at the fabric. It was the only clean top she’d been able to grab before she was dragged back outside to watch Emma and Daisy’s impromptu dance performance.

Boxes piled on boxes piled on boxes were stacked against all four walls; clothes on hangers were strewn across the bed, covering the entire bottom half of the comforter so that all Natalia could see were pillows; a small box labeled “Vanity Items” was resting precariously on the dresser.

“Oh. Wow.” Her fingers flew to her mouth, her teeth catching the tips of her fingernails. She knew Olivia had some stuff; she just hadn’t known how much. Now she wished she still didn’t.

Emma giggled loudly and it snapped Natalia out of her momentary shock. Still biting her fingernails, she started working; perching on the one spot on the bed that wasn’t already taken and pulling a box marked “Bathroom Items” towards her.  _Doesn’t Rafe know where the bathroom is?_

She opened the box carefully and it gave away easily, revealing shampoo and conditioner and two loofah’s and a couple of boxes of soap that would probably cost her an entire Company paycheck. The soap was still new and smelled expensive and she blushed at the thought of her discount soap stashed away in the bathroom.

“Hey you,” Olivia said softly from the doorway. The older woman pushed off of the frame and sauntered into the middle of the room, standing amid the destruction with her hands on her hips. “Wow,” she whispered. “That’s a lot of stuff, huh?” She tried to joke it off, grinning and winking, but when she looked up, she caught Natalia’s gaze and noted the younger woman’s body language: the folded body – as far folded as a woman 6 months pregnant could be; the furrowed forehead and narrowed eyes; the biting of the fingernails. “Hey, listen, I can, uh,” she paused and tilted her head to one side, thinking. The solution that occurred to her wasn’t perfect, but it would work. Pasting a faux cheerful smile on her face, Olivia said, “Okay, I can push all this stuff into the corner and sleep in the guest room and we’ll start on it tomorrow. How does that sound?”

Natalia’s head snapped up and Olivia had to hold back the flinch she felt running through her body.

“No.”

“Natalia,” Olivia started gently. “It’ll just be easier…”

“Everything is easier if we don’t do it. I’m done with easy.” Olivia swallowed heavily, pushing back a wave of emotion, and nodded.

“It could be worse,” Olivia said weakly.

Natalia looked skeptical. “Oh, really?”

“Sure, sure,” the older woman agreed. “I mean, think about it: you could be married and I could be shacking up with Doris and I’d have to deal with Ashlee’s  _constant_  optimism and…”

Olivia trailed off when the Natalia didn’t smile, shrugging sheepishly. “I’ll stop,” she promised.

“It’s going to take time,” Natalia said slowly, drawing each word out. “But we’ll sort it out. We’re going to get it done. We need to get it done.” One hand floated automatically to her swollen stomach, Olivia’s gaze following a half a second behind.

“Tonight,” Olivia continued, the corners of her mouth turned up.

Natalia ducked her head and smiled up at Olivia. “Would you hate me if I wanted to get most of it done tonight?”

“I could never hate you,” Olivia said firmly. The moment got heavier, the air in the room suddenly weighted down with all their unspoken words. Olivia didn’t blink or breathe, an easy smile taking residence on her face as Natalia stared up at her with a look of pure adoration in her eyes. The younger woman watched as Olivia took a tentative step forward, then another, weaving through the boxes until she was standing in front of the woman balanced on the bed.

Olivia extended a single finger and hooked it under Natalia’s chin, tilting her head back even further. “So let’s start working.”

Natalia grinned. “I’ll take this half,” she gestured to the right. “And you take that half?”

“Meet you in the middle,” Olivia quipped, winking.

\---

“What about these?” Natalia asked for, what seemed like, the seventh time. Olivia held in a frustrated sigh and plastered a smile to her face before looking over her shoulder.

“What about what?”

Natalia held up the shoes she had in her right hand. “These.”

“In the closet,” Olivia dismissed.

“The closet is full,” Natalia said, a hint of anger coloring her voice, mixed with something Olivia heard as accusation.

She had no misconceptions about how difficult this was going to be. Olivia had shared rooms with people too many times; shared more closet space than any one person should. On the other hand, Natalia had never shared her space with anyone other than her son, who probably never had that much to begin with;  _she probably never had the time to share any living space with Gus,_ Olivia thought,  _because of me…_

Natalia continued, her voice breaking through Olivia’s thoughts. “You’ve never worn them.”

Now Olivia turned around completely, squinting at the shoes, then at Natalia. “What?”

Natalia nodded. “In the entire time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you wear these shoes. So why would I put them in the closet.”

“Because that’s where shoes go,” Olivia explained slowly.

“But if you’ve never worn them…”

Olivia threw her hands up. “Fine. Throw them out.”

Natalia stood still, holding the shoes in one outstretched hand, the other hand on her hip. Olivia huffed and stepped over two scattered piles of items deemed “miscellaneous” and plucked the black pumps from Natalia’s fingers. “I’ll get rid of them.”

She moved to step past Natalia but was quickly stopped by the younger woman’s free hand, caught mid stride and pulled back. “Wait, stop.” Natalia took a deep breath and smiled. “We’ll find room.”

“Natalia, we…”

The hand sliding up and down her arm in repeated motion ceased her words. Olivia watched as Natalia’s hand traced the curve of her elbow before ending at her wrist bone, tangling their fingers together.

“We can make room,” she repeated. Natalia coughed and straightened up, smiling. “Let’s go Ms. Pokey. There’s still a lot of work to do.”

\---

Natalia didn’t hear Olivia come up behind her, but she definitely felt the sudden warmth that enveloped her the moment before Olivia’s arms were placed down on either side of her, the older woman’s hands resting on the edge of the sink, locking Natalia in place.

“Sorry,” Olivia whispered, stepping closer even as she spoke, lifting one hand off the porcelain and reaching up to the open medicine cabinet “I wanted to grab the – got it.” Olivia’s hand came back holding a bottle of aspirin.

“He-headache?” Natalia said, praying silently that Olivia didn’t hear the catch in her voice. It was obvious the other woman had, though, because Olivia snickered softly, her breath causing Natalia’s hair to move against the back of her neck.

“Preemptive strike,” Olivia said jokingly, but Natalia knew better – after all this time, if she didn’t know better, she’d be worried.

“Bad one?” She turned in Olivia’s phantom embrace, resting her lower back against the sink, her hands moving on their own volition, comfortably wrapping around the curve of Olivia’s hips. Her mouth widened in a smirk and she raised one eyebrow, but it dropped back down when Natalia’s hands didn’t move.

“Better now,” Olivia whispered breathlessly.

\---

Olivia stood in the slightly less cluttered room and grinned. “Almost done.”

“But not quite,” Natalia answered automatically, sweeping a hand over the boxes that weren’t even opened yet. The dark-haired woman stretched out across the bed, trying to snag the edge of a box on the other side, but she couldn’t quite reach it.

“Let me,” Olivia offered, grabbing more of Natalia’s hand than the box.

“You missed,” Natalia muttered, her hand immediately moving to fit Olivia’s fingers between her own.

“No I didn’t.”

Olivia stepped closer to the bed and then lifted her body up; she twisted until she was sitting cross-legged in front of Natalia’s outstretched body, her free hand hovering over the younger woman’s midsection. With a smile, Natalia pulled the hand down and let their two hands come to rest, pressed against the life growing inside of her.

“Has she been kicking lately?” Olivia cocked her head to the side thoughtfully and let her thumb move in a slow circle.

“She gets quiet around this time.” Natalia looked down at her abdomen with a smile. “I think she’s giving her mommy a break,” she said joyfully, directing the words at their unborn baby girl.

“Well, that was very thoughtful of her,” Olivia agreed, in a voice Natalia had only ever heard directed at Emma as the older woman abruptly leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Natalia’s stomach. A sudden rush of love spread through Natalia’s entire body.

It was all finally coming into place, right before her eyes; everything was happening as she had dreamed about it happening, when she was gone and lost and trying to be ready to come home.  _It wasn’t home without Olivia_ , a singsong voice in the back of her mind informed her, and she nodded her head absently. Without Olivia, she realized, it would  _never, ever_  be a home. She had known it long ago – last Christmas, to be exact, but she could never really explain it.

Now, she could explain it all, and would, every time and anytime Olivia wanted to hear it.

For the rest of her life.

“Come back to me,” Olivia sang out softly, pulling Natalia out of her own head and back into the present where there were more boxes to open and more things to put away, even though she didn’t have room for. “Ah, there we go.”

“Do you think she’ll look like Frank?” Natalia asked suddenly. It was the wrong thing to say. Olivia tensed and her hand started to slip off Natalia’s stomach before the younger woman pulled it back up and held it still. “Or do you think she’ll look like me?”

“We can only hope,” Olivia muttered. Dark green eyes rolled. “I mean, whoever she looks like, she’ll be beautiful.”

Natalia’s smile instantly brightened, and Olivia could only play catch up, her own smile widening. “I bet she’ll be short though. I mean, when she grows up. Emma is going to shoot up like a weed,” Natalia said laughingly and Olivia snorted. “She  _has_ to, eventually. And Ava, she’s practically a tree. Rafe, that poor boy, was always the shortest kid in his class,” she lamented. “I always felt awful about that.”

“Well, Frank’s a decent height,” Olivia offered.

“Know what else I bet?” Olivia shook her head. “I bet she’ll grow and have all your attitude – the good and the bad – so it won’t matter if she’s a giantess or one of those girls who are barely five-feet tall.”

Olivia’s guarded expression – the one Natalia noticed was showing less frequently, but still reared up whenever she mentioned Frank and the baby in the same sentence – melted, and Natalia was left staring at  _Olivia_.

Olivia was the brazen, brash woman the world saw every day, game-faced and raring to take on the next obstacle – be it Frank, or Natalia, or Phillip, or Decker, or herself.

 _Olivia_  was the softer, sugar-added version of that woman, still full of fire but with a tempered edge and racing pulse inducing eyes and heartwarming smiles.

Natalia had fallen in love with both of those women, but – and she would never tell Olivia – the “soft-around-the-edges” version was the one she prayed she saw at least once a day; a prayer she could feel, somewhere stuck between the back of her heart and the front of her soul, would be answered every day.

“You think?” The slight hesitation in the question caused Natalia to press Olivia’s hand more firmly against where she knew the baby’s heartbeat was.

“I have a very peculiar feeling,” she said and then gasped. “Did you feel that?”

Olivia’s face told her that  _yes_ , Olivia felt that. The baby kicked again, a little less forcefully this time, but Natalia still felt it through Olivia’s hand. “That was…” Olivia’s voice trailed off. “Wow.”

“That was your little girl going all ‘soccer star’ on my kidneys,” Natalia deadpanned, smiling a second later.

“My little girl,” Olivia said, rolling the words around in her mouth. “ _Our_  little girl, but she can be mine when she does something good.”

Natalia rolled her eyes. “And I’m guessing it’ll be ‘ _your_  daughter’ whenever she, I don’t know, plays in the mud.”

“Exactly,” Olivia said, grinning. “That’s how it works.”

“I never had anyone to work with before.” Natalia’s admission sunk in and the easy banter between them started to strain until Olivia raised her hand and pressed it against the side of Natalia’s face, the warmth of her palm sinking into Natalia’s cheek.

“Me either. I mean, not really. Bill was– and Phillip, before he–” Olivia started, then stopped and smiled softly. “What I’m trying to say is, now you do. You’ve got me. And we can play the “your kid, my kid” game and we can take turns driving her to soccer practice–”

“Ballet classes,” Natalia cut in.

“And you can make her lunches and I’ll toss in the bag of cookies when you’re not looking,” Olivia steamrolled ahead, ignoring Natalia’s interruption, but pressing a finger against Natalia’s mouth, silencing her affectionately. “We’re in it together. I’m not going anywhere. And neither are you.” It wasn’t it a question, Natalia understood; it was a statement, a command – one she would follow to the end of the world and back again. Olivia wasn’t trying to control her, she knew, but rather, was trying to reassure herself that Natalia wasn’t going to run. Natalia nodded and Olivia’s smile stretched from ear to ear.

They stared at each other for a minute more, gazing at each other so intently that the season could have changed, Rafe could have shouted from the stairs, Emma could have paraded ducks through the house, and they wouldn’t have noticed.

“All right, enough sap. We’ve got boxes to finish,” Olivia said, turning and pushing off the bed.

“One more,” Natalia said, rising and lifting her arms upward, conscious of Olivia’s eyes following the lifting hem of her dress. “And then bedtime. I’m exhausted.”

“Me too,” Olivia admitted sheepishly, pulling her gaze upward, immediately stifling a yawn. “One more,” she agreed.

Natalia pointed at the box in the furthest corner of the room. “That one.”

Olivia sighed, but moved anyway, hefting it upward with a small grunt and a slight facial shift, her eyes narrowing in concentration and her mouth set in a firm line. “Had to pick the heaviest one,” she muttered breathlessly, but Natalia only smirked.  

“I’m pregnant. Someone had to lift it.”

“So you delegate it to the woman with the heart problems.” Olivia grinned. “Nice touch.”

“I love you,” Natalia sang. Olivia checked the air above the younger woman’s head to see if there were cartoon bluebirds fluttering about; because she suddenly felt she was in a Disney fairytale – this wasn’t how her life was supposed to go, she wasn’t supposed to get this package deal, and even if it was all cheesy lines and corny compliments, she would take it.

Natalia was standing in the middle of the bedroom, the soft glow of the nightstand lamps catching the contours of her face, one hand draped across her stomach and Olivia fell in love all over again.

Olivia moved closer, dropping the box heavily at their feet. “Last box?” Natalia nodded and motioned for Olivia to open it. One by one, Olivia handed Natalia the box’s contents and before long, she reached the bottom of the box, her knuckles scraping cardboard.

“That’s it.”

“Not quite,” Natalia murmured. She stepped forward as Olivia lifted her head and the older woman’s question died on her tongue as Natalia kissed her gently in the middle of their bedroom, her hands finding their earlier place around Olivia’s waistline. She pulled back slowly, her bottom lip catching on Olivia’s, before they separated audibly.

“ _Now_ , that’s it.”

Olivia didn’t pull back though, and when Natalia’s hands started to slip off of the top of her pants, she tugged them back and leaned in. It felt like a puzzle coming together, like the pieces fit perfectly and there was no reason to force anything together – to turn and twist and push to make it stay in place. She could feel Natalia breathing through her nose and the almost inaudible whimper that came from her own self. Her senses dulled: the noise died down; the color faded from the room.

Natalia pulled back and everything rushed back in at once, pulling a gasp out of the back of her throat, but keeping her close to Natalia. The younger woman smiled gracefully and pressed her warm mouth against Olivia’s once more before turning and grabbing her pajamas out from underneath one of her pillows, blushing softly when Olivia snorted behind her.

“I’ll be right back,” Natalia promised.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I,” Natalia said immediately, then blushed again. “Except for the bathroom. For a minute or two, of course.”

Olivia nodded with a grin. “Of course,” she repeated, shooing Natalia towards the door. She dropped to the bed and turned onto her back, facing the ceiling with her eyes closed. She’d sat on this bed; never lain in it. She’d watched Natalia painstakingly tuck in every corner; never messed the covers up herself. She’d lifted a wedding dress off of this bed; never taken one off of Natalia, though.

It wouldn’t happen tonight, she knew, as she rolled onto her side. But being with Natalia, holding her in her arms and waking up to her, after so long, was more than worth it and would eclipse any first night plans she could have ever made. With a contented sigh, she pulled her own pajamas out of the top drawer of the dresser and pulled them off quickly, attempting to ward off the cold night air that seeped in through the open window on the far side of the room. She laid on the bed, pressing her face into the pillow on the right this time, and mumbled happily into the fabric.

Olivia rolled back over, twisted her arms under her head and waited, imagining the morning and how it already seemed like it would be better than any morning she had ever known.

“You look far away,” Natalia commented as she slipped back into the bedroom and pulled one side of the comforter and sheets down enough to slide in besides Olivia.

“Just daydreaming,” Olivia said simply, moving over only an inch or two until she could pull the covers down enough to wiggle into them, ignoring Natalia’s deep chuckle at her antics. “I could make breakfast tomorrow, if you wanted.”

Natalia pouted. “I make breakfast. You can make dinner,” she compromised.

The younger woman rolled onto her side, one arm tucked under and around her stomach. It should have created space between them, the protruding belly, but Olivia seemed to be drawn closer, as if it was a magnet and she was helpless to its pull. She acquiesced, pillowing her head with one arm, the other hand skimming along the cool sheets, following the line of the bed until it was wrapped around Natalia’s waist, the space between them disappearing.

“I love you,” Natalia whispered into the dark room, her words creating an arc above them that hovered and twinkled like a star. Olivia pressed her face into Natalia’s shoulder, her lips puckering against the smooth skin.

She closed her eyes and tried to temper the sheer  _giddiness_  she could feel running rampant in her stomach, creating butterflies and birds and airplanes that fluttered around. “I love you, too,” was the last thing she murmured before exhaustion set in and she gave in to the darkness.

\---

“I still can’t believe it’s all coming together,” Natalia said in a whisper, awe-struck, her words alarmingly loud in the early morning quiet. “Everything is falling into perfect place.”

Olivia wanted to say  _‘no’_ , that it wasn’t, and it wouldn’t for some time; until Rafe got over his “one step at a time” mentality – and maybe the Army would give him that; until Frank saw that he  _would_  be involved in the baby’s life; until the baby was born and grew up and had babies of her own. She wanted to say  _‘no’_  but there was something so earnest about the look in Natalia’s eyes and the way her own heart beat a little faster, that she couldn’t help but let out a small grunt of affirmation. Natalia’s smile widened and caught the slim ray of sunlight coming in between the divided curtains.

“It’s like Christmas,” Natalia continued. Olivia’s eyes rolled on their own volition, but she covered the motion by lifting her head, stretching her neck and pressing a drawn-out kiss to the base of Natalia’s neck, her mouth feeling the bone of Natalia’s collar. “And Thanksgiving,” Natalia continued, as Olivia lifted her head and let it fall back down again, her lips hitting closer to Natalia’s shoulder blade. “And Easter,” she whispered, Olivia’s mouth landing more north, on her pulse point. “And Arbor Day,” Natalia barely whispered.

Olivia pulled back, an eyebrow disappearing up around her hairline. “Arbor Day?”

Natalia hummed an agreement. “It’s a significantly overlooked holiday.”

“I love you,” Olivia said, her words a soft exhale.

The younger woman felt the words warm her fingertips then spread up into her arms and rested in the crook of her elbow before running to her shoulders, and then down into the space in her heart now brimming with affection. “Prove it,” she whispered just as softly.

Olivia’s mouth opened and closed, then spread in a smile. Natalia shifted closer, eyes bright, but Olivia merely shook her head.

“Olivia…”

“Natalia,” Olivia said mockingly, pulling away still, as Natalia tried to scoot forward. “I love you,” she repeated.

Natalia nodded quickly. “You said that.”

“Which is why-”

“And I love you,” Natalia continued. The younger woman slid again, pausing to gauge Olivia’s reaction before slipping closer. Her hand, which had tangled with Olivia’s during the night, and was now resting on Olivia’s waistline, pushed the nightshirt up enough to glide against smooth stomach muscles and over the curve of Olivia’s hip. “We love each other,” she whispered against Olivia’s cheek, her mouth moving dangerously close to the juncture of Olivia’s upper and lower lip.

From where she was, her eyes almost level with Olivia’s, Natalia could see dark jade disappear behind closed eyelids, then open again. There was something in those eyes, in their depths, that she could feel – a dull ache that started in her heart and wormed its way down her body. She knew what it was; could put a name to it, and a definition, but instead of analyzing it, instead of debating  _‘yes’_ or  _‘no’_  she pushed the question to the back of her mind. _Carpe Diem_ , she said to herself, her hand moving higher as she moved her head lower.

Olivia exhaled sharply and Natalia felt it against her closed mouth: a hot, angry blast of air that felt like it could force the seam tying her lips together wide open, unleashing a torrent of words and emotions and actions, whose consequences she cared nothing about.

Her hand burned against Olivia’s cool skin. Her mouth burned against Olivia’s. The fire seemed to spread from one point of her body to the other and she caught Olivia up in it. The older woman hissed as Natalia’s fingers flitted across her rib cage, dipping into the space between each bone, cataloguing each inch.  _Sense-memory_ , she thought suddenly.

“We love each other,” Olivia repeated, her voice a dry husk.

Warm flesh, cool shadows; the shape of mouths and the blur of teeth – between them, they commingled, blended, and became two who were one and then two again. Olivia soared; Natalia drifted, haze and sky, earth and air, fire and smoke.  It was emotion unleashed, and lost to it, prisoner to it, to their love and their need and their desire to seize everything precious, they fell to the loving. 

Olivia’s hand on Natalia’s hip, her fingertips shaping flesh and bone over and over, swirling circles of a touch that could not –  _would not_  – be stopped until finally, finally, Natalia cried out, a soft exhalation of praise and joy.

“ _Olivia_.”

The very wicked nature of Olivia’s smile did nothing to diminish the absolute joy of the moment, nor did the near equally curious lift of Natalia’s eyebrow, when the younger woman proved to be a quick study. 

Olivia turned and pressed her face into the slightly damp pillow underneath her, panting into the breathable fabric as Natalia’s fingertips danced up her spine. The older woman took a deep breath and turned her head to the side, a grin stretching across her face easily as Natalia’s eyes danced with something she would call smugness.

 _Good God_ , Olivia’s inner mind hissed.

“Emma is going to be up soon,” Natalia whispered, sighing wistfully.

Olivia resisted the to urge to whine and protest that she wanted just  _“five more minutes”_  and nodded instead, but counteracted her head motion by stretching forward and grabbing Natalia’s bottom lip between her own, biting down gently and pulling back so that Natalia came with her, creating one form on the right side of the bed.

“She’ll have to wait. I’m kissing her mother good morning,” Olivia said, her words being swallowed by Natalia immediately, before they could escape into the air around them.

“I’m sure she can understand that,” Natalia murmured.

“Com-pletely reasonab- _oh_ ,” Olivia agreed, dragging the sentence out as Natalia scraped her teeth against the older woman’s mouth.

“Like that?” Natalia asked, sending a shiver through Olivia’s body. “Cause there’s more where that came from.”

Olivia pulled back and lifted on eyebrow.

“Right after you take a shower, get dressed and finish unpacking these boxes,” Natalia added cheekily, sliding out from beneath the sheets and Olivia’s grasp before the other woman could formulate a response, leaving her to stare up at the ceiling.

“He-”but her protest was cut off as Natalia rounded the bed, pressed a hard kiss to her mouth and grinned.

“I’ll be in there,” she announced, hitching a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the bathroom. “Make sure Emma can find her clothes?” the younger woman asked sweetly, smiling. Olivia melted at the sight of one pronounced dimple and felt herself nodding as if she had no control over the ball-and-joint connections in her neck. “I love you.”

Olivia smiled and said, “I love you too.”

Natalia entered the bathroom, closing the door softly behind her, but Olivia heard it open again as she reached for her slippers.

“Don’t forget to turn on the coffee maker,” Natalia added, blowing a kiss at Olivia.

The older woman sighed and rolled her eyes, but as she closed the bedroom door behind her, she was suddenly struck with the idea that with Natalia in the shower, the kitchen was fair play.

Maybe she would get to make breakfast after all, and if Natalia had a problem with that…

 _Well_ , Olivia thought,  _there are ways to make her forget about it. Many ways_.


End file.
